Hi Laurie, You could make up the component, place it on the PCB, load your nets, and then Explode the component to free primitives (Tools>Convert>Explode Component to Free Primitives). Of course, the next time you go to load the netlist, the nets on the connector will be lost.
The other way I'd suggest, is place the spacer holes on the PCB separately, and create a component of the ribbon connector, with the origin of the component in the same position as one of the spacers, so when you plonk the component down, you can align it perfectly using the spacer holes on the PCB. I've used both of these methods in the past, with success. Just my $0.02. TC -----Original Message----- From: Laurie Biddulph [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, 5 January 2004 5:03 PM To: Protel EDA Forum Subject: [PEDA] Transparent footprints Hi, I hope you all had a happy Xmas. I need to place two large components on a pcb that will actually be on spacers and connected to the main board by short wire links. As the items are relatively large (one of them is one of those standard 2- or 4-line LCD modules) the footprint for these will be quite large yet be basically empty - there will be four spacers, one for each corner, plus a short multi-way connector. Is there any way of creating this as a component footprint so that it may be correctly moved and position on the main board yet still allow Protel to freely place components and tracks in the free area under these components? As the position of the spacers relative to the connector is fairly critical it is preferable that this is one single component. Best Regards Laurie Biddulph http://www.elby-designs.com * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To post a message: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * To leave this list visit: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/leave.html * * Contact the list manager: * mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Forum Guidelines Rules: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/forumrules.html * * Browse or Search previous postings: * http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
